To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History Of Collectors and Collecting
By Philipp Blom
4/5
()
About this ebook
From amassing sacred relics to collecting celebrity memorabilia, the impulse to hoard has gripped humankind throughout the centuries. But what is it that drives people to possess objects that have no conceivable use? To Have and To Hold is a captivating tour of collectors and their treasures from medieval times to the present, from a cabinet containing unicorn horns and a Tsar's collection of teeth to the macabre art of embalmer Dr. Frederick Ruysch, the fabled castle of William Randolph Hearst, and the truly preoccupied men who stockpile food wrappers and plastic cups. An engrossing story of the collector as bridegroom, deliriously, obsessively happy, wed to his possessions, till death do us part.
“Wry history . . . Blom’s formidable research is an example of the collector’s art in itself.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An admirable attempt to chart the history of an obsession.” —Publishers Weekly
“An impressive, wide-ranging book.” —Christopher Tayler, Sunday Telegraph
“Blom's literary cabinet is full of pungent biographies.” —Times Literary Supplement
“Provocative, stimulating and entertaining . . . Huge questions are thrown up . . . on every page of the book, but it is also full of jokes, unusual and very welcome in a work of such impressive scholarship and elegance of style . . . a sparkling, discursive, and eclectic book.” —Independent on Sunday
“Throughout these well-documented stories, Blom probes the heart and soul of collecting's appeal . . . .An intellectual journey worth taking.” —Booklist
Philipp Blom
Philipp Blom was born in 1970 in Hamburg and grew up in Detmold, in Germany. After university studies in Vienna and Oxford, he obtained a D.Phil in Modern History. He started writing at Oxford and published a novel as well as occasional journalism, moving on to London, where he worked as an editor, translator, writer and freelance journalist, contributing to newspapers, magazines and radio programmes in Great Britain, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and France. In 2001, Philipp Blom moved to Paris to concentrate on his books. In 2007 he settled in Vienna, where he continues to write nonfiction, such as Nature's Mutiny, as well as fiction, films, and occasional journalism. He presents a cultural discussion programme on Austrian national radio and has lectured on history, philosophy, and cultural history in Europe, the US, and South America. He is married to Veronica Buckley, who is also a writer.
Related to To Have and to Hold
Related ebooks
A Sisterhood of Sculptors: American Artists in Nineteenth-Century Rome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNaïve Art 120 illustrations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Schiele Slaughters: A Megan Crespi Mystery Series Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year's Work in the Oddball Archive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlank Canvas: Art School Creativity From Punk to New Wave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife Goes to the Movies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEqual under the Sky: Georgia O’Keeffe and Twentieth-Century Feminism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorgia O’Keeffe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert Campin: Drawings & Paintings (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInteriors for Collectors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProject Keepsake: An Anthology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Manufacturing Industries Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Collage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpellbound by Marcel: Duchamp, Love, and Art Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetry in a World of Things: Aesthetics and Empiricism in Renaissance Ekphrasis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal English Bookbindings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlue: Cobalt to Cerulean in Art and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaddy Hall: A Biography in 80 Linocuts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History and Its Objects: Antiquarianism and Material Culture since 1500 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clarice Cliff Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Guide to Transfer Artist Paper: Explore 15 New Projects for Crafters, Quilters, Mixed Media & Fine Artists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagpies, Squirrels and Thieves: How the Victorians Collected the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Miser's Purse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreakfast at Sotheby's: An A–Z of the Art Word Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Some of My Lives: A Scrapbook Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women and museums 1850–1914: Modernity and the gendering of knowledge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnchantment the Art and Life of Lilian Westcott Hale: America's Linear Impressionist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Antiques & Collectibles For You
Badass Bricks: Thirty-Five Weapons of Mass Construction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The NES Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Entertainment System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Appraising (3rd Edition): Antique, Period & Modern Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoin Collecting - A Beginners Guide to Finding, Valuing and Profiting from Coins: The Collector Series, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brick Flicks: A Comprehensive Guide to Making Your Own Stop-Motion LEGO Movies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Horny Stories And Comix # 3 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Stamp Collecting A Beginners Guide to Finding, Valuing and Profiting from Stamps: The Collector Series, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSign Painters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restoring and Refinishing Furniture: An Illustrated Guide to Revitalizing Your Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wacky Packages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coin Collecting For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Garbage Pail Kids Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arrowpoints, Spearheads, and Knives of Prehistoric Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouthwest Treasure Hunter's Gem and Mineral Guide (5th ed.): Where and How to Dig, Pan and Mine Your Own Gems and Minerals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'd Rather Be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Arts of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing and Ropework Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ultimate Guide to Home Butchering: How to Prepare Any Animal or Bird for the Table or Freezer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story Behind: The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Existential Literature Collection Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bibliophile: Diverse Spines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trapper's Bible: The Most Complete Guide on Trapping and Hunting Tips Ever Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Planet of the Apes: The Original Topps Trading Card Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompacts and Cosmetics: Beauty from Victorian Times to the Present Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for To Have and to Hold
35 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very erudite, great writer this Phillip Blom ! Recommend reading his other books too!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A very enjoyable read. I liked the fact that Blom wrote some about the psychology of collecting as well as the history of curious collectors. Recommended.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is about the madness and obsession of collecting possessions, objects, items, treasures and peculiar things through the ages. The key question is what drives seemingly sane individuals to collect and amass things, often objects of little use. The author ranges widely through time, past and present to find out about quirky people and their even odder collections from books, to strange creatures from Egyptian mummies to skulls and plaster casts, form milk bottles to advertising labels. The most successful of collectors were those who wrote about their collections or created museums that preserved the collection beyond their lifespans . One of my favourite London museums is the Lincoln's Inn Field Sir John Soane museum. The book is well researched, with many interesting facets to collecting explored. Ultimately the purpose of collecting is driven by a desire to impose order on a chaotic world and perhaps to understand the world better and secondly, to purchase longevity through collecting; if you cannot live forever at least your collection will speak in your voice for the next generation. However this is a poorly produced book as the illustrations which could have brought life and delight, are small dark and poorly reproduced miniature inserts. These do not do justice to the travels and hard workof the author.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A dense and delightful guided tour and detailed history of brilliant and obsessive collectors and their amazing collections To Have and To Hold held my attention ably. This book made me even more curious about the curious, and made me want to read more about the fascinating characters, the museums that house some of the collections, or the artifacts themselves. For anyone who loves to ponder the items in a curio cabinet or the halls of a museum or the corners of the world, this book is an absorbing diversion, and a great companion to A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Each contain chapters that stand alone as fascinating vignettes, and I'm certain to browse both books again and again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At first I thought this was going to be a survey of some eccentric collectors in history, on which is does not disappoint, but it turns out to be a lot richer and contain some real pearls of wisdom about life in general, and flashes of historical insight. Reading through the chapters of this book was a lot like rummaging through a private collectors cabinet of curiosities. The chapter titles alone don't reveal its direction and only after a few pages does it begin to reveal its treasure. Chapters cover aspects of collecting as diverse as: people who collected experiences with women (Casanova), the collecting of body parts (religious relics), collecting memories, American billionaires who bought up European heritage (JP Morgan, Hearst), collectors of mass-produced items (milk bottles, food wrappers), Princes and Kings such as Rudolf of Hapsburg (17th C) who filled his castle with the worlds greatest collections and slowly went mad, collecting as a madness, as a substitute for love, as a form of autism, as psychology, as crime - and in the end, as a warning to all those who take it too far.Required reading for anyone who is a collector, has collected, knows a collector or is considering collecting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Some intriguing vignettes about the gently - and not-so-gently - mad collectors.